Verbal Behavior and Communication Flashcards

According to Skinner's analysis, a mand is a verbal operant controlled by:

Answer: A motivating operation and reinforced by a specific consequence

Mands are verbal behavior controlled by motivating operations (deprivation/aversive conditions) and reinforced by the specific item, action, or information requested.

A child says 'ball' when she sees a ball on the shelf. This verbal response is BEST classified as a:

Answer: Tact

A tact is a verbal operant controlled by a non-verbal discriminative stimulus (an object, event, or property) and generalized reinforcement.

When a therapist says 'What do you eat with?' and the client responds 'fork,' this is an example of a:

Answer: Intraverbal

An intraverbal is a verbal response controlled by another verbal stimulus without point-to-point correspondence between the stimulus and response.

Echoic behavior is verbal behavior that:

Answer: Reproduces the formal properties (sounds) of a verbal stimulus heard

An echoic is controlled by a verbal auditory stimulus and has point-to-point correspondence and formal similarity to the model.

Teaching a child to request preferred items (manding) is considered foundational in early ABA language intervention because:

Answer: Manding is controlled by motivating operations and has built-in reinforcement that drives learning

Mand training leverages naturally occurring motivation and automatically provides the specific reinforcer, producing rapid and durable learning.

Which term describes verbal behavior under the control of written text that has point-to-point correspondence with the spoken response?

Answer: Textual

Textual behavior (reading aloud) is controlled by written text and has point-to-point correspondence between the written stimulus and spoken response.